Ever since Granit Xhaka left Arsenal last summer to join Bayer Leverkusen, the Gunners have really felt his absence. Manager Mikel Arteta has struggled to replace the midfielder, who became an integral part of Arsenal’s title challenge in 2022/23.
They have tried and tested several players in the advanced number eight role in which Xhaka played. Kai Havertz was initially signed to play there, although he has found joy up front recently, and has been in good goalscoring form of late, scoring five in his last eight league outings.
Arteta has also experimented with Declan Rice in a more advanced role, playing Jorginho behind him as a regista, and asking Rice to get further forward and into the final third. However, this can leave Arsenal quite exposed at the back, with no Rice to screen the back four.
The other player Arteta could trial on the left-hand side of centre midfield is Oleksandr Zinchenko. The Ukrainian has yet to play there for Arsenal, but it is a role he is used to, given it is where he plays for his country.
However, there is one option, in the transfer market who Arteta could turn to as a replacement for Xhaka, who is now a Bundesliga champion with Leverkusen.
Arsenal’s Xhaka replacement option
The player in question here is Zinchenko’s fellow Ukraine international, Georgiy Sudakov, of Shakhtar Donetsk. The 21-year-old is widely considered to be one of the most exciting midfield talents in Europe and could be who Arsenal target to replace Xhaka.
According to CaughtOffside, Sudakov has been linked with a move to Arsenal, although they are yet to make a formal approach for the midfielder. The 21-year-old told CaughtOffside that whilst it is nice to be linked to big clubs like Arsenal, he wants to “focus on my football, my development and my team as much as possible”.
The midfielder has a release clause of £128m, and Napoli had a £34m bid rejected for him in January. However, CaughtOffisde believes a £60m deal would be enough for Shakhtar to sell him.
How Sudakov compares to Xhaka
Just like Xhaka last season for Arsenal, Sudakov is a wonderful box-crashing midfielder. Whilst he is not quite putting up the same numbers as the Swiss did at Arsenal in his final season, Sudakov only has three league goals compared to Xhaka’s seven last season, he still gets into good goalscoring positions.
Compared to the Bundesliga champion, Sudakov’s passing numbers leave a little to be desired. The Switzerland international averages 11.26 progressive passes per 90 minutes, and 10.7 final third passes per 90 minutes, both of which rank him in the top 1% amongst midfielders in Europe according to Fbref. As the numbers suggest, he is an elite creator in midfield.
In comparison, Sudakov averages 5.63 progressive passes per 90 minutes, and 5.38 final third passes per 90 minutes, which place him in the 70th percentile and the 78th percentile respectively, as per Fbref.
These are not bad numbers from Sudakov’s point of view, and he has an incredibly high ceiling. Whilst compared to Xhaka he has lower numbers, there is no doubt the Shakhtar star could hit the same heights in a few seasons under Arteta.
However, where Sudakov does trump Xhaka is his progressive carrying stats. The youngster averages 2.13 per 90 minutes, placing him in the top 18%, compared to Xhaka’s 2.07 per 90 minutes, which ranks him in the top 20%.
No doubt, Sudakov is a very similar profile to the former Arsenal star last season and would be able to play the role the Swiss vacated last summer very well, due to his box-crashing ability and control on the ball.
Also of note is that the Ukraine international “shone in the Champions League” this season, as football analyst Ben Mattinson put it on X. He scored away to Barcelona, no doubt a very special moment for him.
Should Arsenal decide to spend the money on Sudakov, they might well find the perfect Xhaka replacement. He could make a big difference as they look to kick on and finally conquer the Premier League and taste European success.
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